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Cuba among the countries with the highest number of women parliamentarians

In Latin America the progress is acceptable, with three countries, Cuba included, in the top ten in terms of the proportion of women in Parliament. This was acknowledged by the United Nations on Tuesday in the it’s assessment of the presence of women in government positions.

Bolivia, Cuba and Ecuador

According to the UN, three Latin American countries were in the top 10 world rankings because of the high representation of women in Parliament and in high places: Bolivia (second worldwide), Cuba (fourth) and Ecuador (ninth).

The data were presented at a press conference at UN headquarters by ONUMujeres and the Interparliamentary Union (IPU), which drew a map with the presence of women in governments and parliaments around the world.

According to the head of the area of ​​Leadership and Governance of UN Women, Begoña Lasagabaster, in Latin America 26.1% of legislators are women, not as high as in the Nordic level, but the region has a “significant number” of heads of State.

Despite progress, the organization recognized that the world still fails to achieve gender equality in politics.

Eight countries in which not a single woman is in Government

There are eight countries in which not a single woman in Government: Saudi Arabia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brunei, Slovakia, Hungary, Pakistan, Tonga and Vanuatu. There is also no women in the parliaments of five nations: Micronesia, Palau, Qatar, Tonga and Vanuatu.

Comparative data closed to January 1 this year with 2014, the number of women ministers rose from 670 to 715, but still account for 17.7% of all ministerial posts.

Women heads of State

Only 22% of legislators are women and among heads of State or Government elected there are only 19 are women, and only 15.8% of parliaments are headed by women representatives.

As the number of ministers, Finland is the first country, with 62.5%. Among the parliaments, Rwanda, a country that a few years ago left a traumatic armed conflict, is that more women have, 63.8% in the lower house and 38.5% in the high.

Lasagabaster told EfE that, even so, the participation of women in politics is not so high in relation to the mayors, as they are only between 8 or 9%. “That’s a little disparity in Latin America,” she added.

She explained that possibly the disparity because some countries in the region have established temporary measures for parliamentary but not local elections. Some nations, such as Mexico, have introduced constitutional changes in favor of parity.

The political map by gender indicates that the parliaments in 48 countries have 30% or more female representatives.

50-50-2030 for gender equality

The UN has developed a campaign, “50-50 2030” which tries to reach full gender equality in fifteen years. In 1995 some goals were set in all areas of society recognize that the UN is still met with great lag.

The political map presented today also discusses why women have portfolios that are part of governments. There are many holders of Social Affairs (103) Environment (86) and Women’s Affairs and Equality (74). But there are few ministers of Defense or Finance, both with 17 posts.

The lag in the presence of women in the most necessary political office is not linked to religion.